Today’s guest is the AISAP 2019 Vision and Values Award winner, Bill Diskin. Learn how Bill transitioned from English teacher to poet laureate to athletic director, and finally to Director of Admission and Financial Aid at Cannon School. Through his journey, Bill’s greatest lesson learned is treating everyone with dignity, and he remains committed to passing on the wisdom of his career mentors while also conveying a sense of belonging to new students and families at his institutions.
Today’s guest is the AISAP 2019 Vision and Values Award winner, Bill Diskin. Learn how Bill transitioned from English teacher to poet laureate to athletic director, and finally to Director of Admission and Financial Aid at Cannon School. Through his journey, Bill’s greatest lesson learned is treating everyone with dignity, and he remains committed to passing on the wisdom of his career mentors while also conveying a sense of belonging to new students and families at his institutions.
00;00;00;08 - 00;00;30;20
Janice Crampton
This is, WeAdmit! by AISAP, the podcast where we share true stories from admission and enrollment professionals. I'm your host, Janice Crampton, Executive Director and CEO. So before we jump into our conversation with Bill Diskin, I would like to just remind everyone of the busy AISAP October. You know, October is oftentimes that month that we automatically think of with regard to Halloween or trick or treat.
00;00;30;21 - 00;01;00;20
Janice Crampton
Well, I've got to tell you, at AISAP, we not only have a treat for you, but we can honestly say there are no tricks because FACTS, SSS, Clarity, TADS, Blackbaud Financial Aid Network, FAS, you name it. All of the software tools and systems - boy, is it a treat - will be under one roof in Louisville, Kentucky, for our Financial Aid Summit on October 26th and 27th.
00;01;01;04 - 00;01;23;22
Janice Crampton
We do hope you join us because, again, case studies and content and a keynote speaker, Mark Mitchell from NAIS will lead us in this two day immersion, of all things financial aid. So for more information on this and any other thing related to Isaac, go to AISAP.org. That's asiap.org.
00;01;26;05 - 00;02;02;21
Janice Crampton
Well, hello, everyone, to this episode of WeAdmit! I am excited for the opportunity to speak to and with the wonderful Bill Diskin, who is Director of Admission and Financial Aid at the Cannon School. And again, as we think about the trials and the triumphs of those of us in this work, I have to say that through Bill's social media accounts, I have learned a great deal about him, that I hope he will continue to share with many of us.
00;02;03;10 - 00;02;27;00
Janice Crampton
He is an avid reader. He is an avid writer. And he also has a lot of information on reptiles and on fishing and on other sort of factions or aspects of wildlife. And so, again, welcome, Bill Diskin.
00;02;28;01 - 00;02;32;15
Bill Diskin
Thank you, Janice. It's great to be here. I'm excited to have this conversation with you today.
00;02;33;01 - 00;02;50;18
Janice Crampton
Yeah, absolutely. So let's start with the most important you have been at the Cannon School for a good number of years. I mean, 2007 to the present, you know, what is that, 15 years, three months, two days and 7 hours kind of thing?
00;02;51;01 - 00;03;00;22
Bill Diskin
Yeah, we call it sixteen. I think I started my 16th year in July, so I got the big 15 year congratulations last spring. So that was exciting.
00;03;01;16 - 00;03;07;01
Janice Crampton
Was it just congratulations or did it have a chair or a gift card to the local steakhouse.
00;03;07;01 - 00;03;12;17
Bill Diskin
Or there was a gift card. There was no chair. There was a gift card and some applause. Yes.
00;03;13;06 - 00;03;36;02
Janice Crampton
Yeah, absolutely. Well, and again, in your role at Cannon, there's the title. And then there are these angles and aspects of all things that the headmaster or head of school might also assign you. Do you coach and advise and work with other clubs or organizations? Tell us a little bit about how you round out your your Cannon experience.
00;03;37;00 - 00;04;07;21
Bill Diskin
Yeah, I've been really fortunate in a number of ways. And when I look back over my career, I've done all of those things that you've just described in terms of advising and coaching and being involved in that way. It's funny you say that, because just over the last week and a half, while I've been out, I've been off campus for a couple of weeks, but over the last week and a half, I got a note from a student who is requesting, if I could, if I was willing to, to be the advisor for the Cannon School Fishing Club.
00;04;08;13 - 00;04;34;18
Bill Diskin
And I can't think of a better way to to engage with students than being part of their fishing club. So I said yes quickly. I didn't even ask if I'm, you know, if I should or shouldn't. I just said yes. I've mostly, you know, I've not been an advisor and I've not coached at Cannon and I've coached over the years field hockey, lacrosse and ice hockey and even baseball.
00;04;34;27 - 00;04;57;12
Bill Diskin
But at Cannon I haven't. It's a bigger school and the volume of work in the admission and financial aid office is pretty significant. So I just haven't felt that I have the time to be away in those ways as I had in other places. But I do teach a public speaking “Win-term.” We do a one week Win-term during January the first week back in January.
00;04;57;12 - 00;05;24;06
Bill Diskin
So I've been lucky to be able to be engaged with students that way. Helping with a, it's you know, everyone has different opinions about what public speaking is or whether they like it or they don't like it or how to do it. And I tend to enjoy it. And so I love to take that interest in and passion for public speaking to the kids and see how they do.
00;05;24;07 - 00;05;42;24
Bill Diskin
And, you know, they're great at it. They teach me so much about ways to do presentations and ways to organize information and ways to really, in the end, persuade people, persuade an audience based on something that we're trying to encourage an audience to be persuaded about.
00;05;42;24 - 00;06;16;10
Janice Crampton
So yeah. And picking up on that that word persuade or persuasive. Right. So much of our work in that admission and enrollment office is to make the case for or tell the story of one's mission and how it then is reflected in the class. And so it is a very powerful tool that you need to not just have as as a competency or a behavior, but it does as as you just said, it does need to be exercised right and kept in shape.
00;06;17;10 - 00;06;39;11
Bill Diskin
It does. And I think, you know, if we're doing it every day as adults in our workplace, we kind of take it for granted maybe that that's what we're doing. But for students who are you know, they're learning to talk about themselves. They're learning how to put themselves in a good light in conversations without sounding as if they are, overly confident or arrogant or whatever.
00;06;39;11 - 00;07;07;16
Bill Diskin
So helping them find ways to talk in positive ways about themselves and about their strengths and how they can contribute to a community, I think is pretty vital for any age really. But specifically high school kids who are getting ready to do college interviews and job interviews, all of those pieces. So it's great fun for me, but it also I think it's a great program that the school offers to to high school students.
00;07;08;06 - 00;07;40;03
Janice Crampton
Yeah. And for you to lead it again I'm thinking to myself, how can I become a Cannon Winterim student? Because I think it would be fascinating to be taught by those who are, in fact, the teachers and the advocates for those of us in the profession. You know, the other reason why I was curious to hear about your background and your experience is because this season of WeAdmit! has two words or phrases as an overarching theme.
00;07;40;03 - 00;08;14;14
Janice Crampton
And interestingly enough, upon hearing those two words, people have said, what does one have to do with the other? But believe it or not, they have a lot. And here goes: goal setting and belonging. And in the spirit of that, I look back at at your academic resume as well as your experience resumé. And I am seeing a lot of things that certainly have allowed you the opportunity to belong to this community called Cannon.
00;08;14;23 - 00;08;37;21
Janice Crampton
But also belong to the community of mission and enrollment professionals. But I'm fascinated by what might be the goal setting that you did to become the athletic director or a poet laureate. Can you just again pick up on that prompt, so to speak, and tell me, how did those two things get connected for you?
00;08;39;16 - 00;09;02;20
Bill Diskin
Gosh. So I think I became an athletic director by accident. And I can go back and talk about that. That actually led me to where I am today and in a really interesting way. And so I can't say that I ever set a goal to be an athletic director, but I've spent a lifetime as somebody who has participated in and really appreciated athletics.
00;09;02;20 - 00;09;24;18
Bill Diskin
And I love what athletics means to our students in any school and specifically in independent schools. And I mean, the coaches that I've had in my life over my, you know, elementary school, high school days have meant the world to me. And those are the people that I still look back on and think about. And so I was an English teacher.
00;09;24;18 - 00;09;46;04
Bill Diskin
I was a middle school language arts teacher at a school in Pittsburgh. And I had sort of gravitated to doing some admission work because it had been an all girls school that had gone coed. So we were trying to attract boys from around the city of Pittsburgh. And so I would go out as one of the male staff members and go to recruiting events, things like that.
00;09;46;28 - 00;10;10;12
Bill Diskin
So I was pretty comfortable doing teaching English and working in the admissions office. And we had sometime in the late maybe mid-spring, we had a really... gosh, I was at that school for 12 years. This was probably the ninth year or so. The head of school came to me and said, Look, we're going to make a change in the athletic department.
00;10;10;12 - 00;10;31;18
Bill Diskin
Will you be the athletic director from spring until the start of the next school year? And I thought, sure, I can do that, fill in, help out, no problem. You know, I wasn't sure what was going on, but I'd be happy to do it. Three years later, I was still the Athletic Director and that Head of School was no longer employed at the school.
00;10;31;18 - 00;10;52;07
Bill Diskin
So I will say, though, because that happened, that is when I literally sat down and I remember kind of reflecting on this and writing on it and I took stock in, “What is it that I love about my job? What is it that I love about my career? What what if I could choose what to do next? What would I choose to do?”
00;10;52;17 - 00;11;20;08
Bill Diskin
And when it all boiled down, I said to myself, the admissions office, working with students and families around admission enrollment and financial aid is the work that I've enjoyed the most and felt that I was best at contributing through my skill set and my energy and my passions. So I loved teaching English, but I kind of knew of my teaching time, full time teaching time was winding down.
00;11;20;17 - 00;11;44;21
Bill Diskin
I loved athletics, but I did not have a vision for what athletics should be at a school beyond the, you know, the immediate things that I had to do day in, day out. You’ve got to get referees, you've got to get coaches, you've got to get the bus to move on time. But beyond that, I didn't I didn't see myself as a career athletic director going down down the road.
00;11;45;03 - 00;12;02;19
Bill Diskin
I didn't think it was fair that I would stay in that position. And I'm not sure that the new head of school that came in thought it would be fair that I'd stay in that position. So I went looking specifically for admission jobs and found a great position in central Pennsylvania at York Country Day school and did that for four years.
00;12;03;01 - 00;12;31;16
Bill Diskin
And that's where I really got my feet on the ground. As a full time admission director, I did admission and marketing there and that propelled me eventually to Cannon School. But I should say that during that four years of of being an Admission Director in York, Pennsylvania, that's where the poet laureate came up. And I don't want to admit that this is this was real strategic on my part, but I loved teaching English.
00;12;31;16 - 00;13;05;09
Bill Diskin
I love reading poetry. I've never really been much of a writer of poetry. But I do appreciate it and love it. I saw that the mayor's office was looking for a poet laureate, and there had only been one other in this town up to this point, I thought, what better way, as a new Admission Director in a small town in central Pennsylvania to start to get my name out there, build a profile, build a sort of a reputation among families and students who are interested in the literary arts.
00;13;05;09 - 00;13;34;29
Bill Diskin
And it was frankly, it was access to public schools. It was access to the public library. I did poetry at assisted living facilities, you name it. I was willing to show up and do poetry workshops and help out. And it worked! I ended up with a regular column in the newspaper that I would write and I like to highlight the work of other poets and everything came attached with Bill Diskin as the Director of Admission at York Country Day School.
00;13;34;29 - 00;14;04;01
Bill Diskin
Contact him and blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So it was it was marketing 101 in a sense, but it fulfilled a passion on my side. It helped me meet so many, so many great people. Some of them did eventually kind of get interested in York Country Day. So the trick kind of worked. But more importantly than that, it just it gave me a sort of an identity in the community around literary arts, which I appreciated.
00;14;04;01 - 00;14;13;07
Bill Diskin
And maybe the best thing of all is I got to park anywhere I wanted in the city of York. I had a free, unlimited parking. Parking for the poet laureate.
00;14;13;10 - 00;14;19;04
Janice Crampton
There you go. Did it come with the sign that said, “This space reserved for the poet?”
00;14;19;29 - 00;14;22;17
Bill Diskin
It wasn't quite like the clergy sign that you might see.
00;14;22;17 - 00;14;23;05
Janice Crampton
Yeah, there you go.
00;14;23;17 - 00;14;35;00
Bill Diskin
All right. But, you know, I would handwrite something and then I would argue with the police officer later, if there was a debate, I’d tell him to talk to the mayor and then, you know, it was kind of a process.
00;14;35;16 - 00;14;39;08
Janice Crampton
There you go. Or the haiku of the day, right.
00;14;39;28 - 00;14;42;26
Bill Diskin
Law enforcement don't always go for it.
00;14;43;17 - 00;15;29;06
Janice Crampton
Yeah, there you go. Well, and again, do you see why that goal setting and then belonging, you had a connection to? So in this spirit, again, of this sort of connection that we see happening and the work that you're doing, one of the things that we hear throughout, although it's only been a few minutes here, but one of the things that we hear throughout is that you are giving and you are sharing and that you are offering people your wealth of wisdom and your willingness to, again, share whether it is the sharing of your talents and skillset or the knowledge around.
00;15;29;13 - 00;16;16;07
Janice Crampton
Which brings me to the fact that you have been noted several years ago as AISAP’s Andy Noel Award winner, and the award that is now called the Vision and Values Award. And for those of you who are listening to this podcast today and that are not familiar with this award, it really does highlight some of the key core values of AISAP and that overarching vision of our work that as we honor the gentleman, Andy Noel, who many years ago in 2015 passed away, he led his life as a hockey player, believe it or not, as well as the Director of Admission and Financial Aid at Choate.
00;16;16;07 - 00;16;39;25
Janice Crampton
I think to clarify the title, he was the Director of Financial Aid at Choate. But where I'm going with this is the reason that we talk about “Pass the Puck” is that he was an avid hockey player and he always instilled that mindset around, don't just keep your knowledge, don't just keep your goals and your beliefs and your sense of belonging to yourself.
00;16;39;25 - 00;16;52;23
Janice Crampton
“Pay it forward” is another way that people use this. And Bill, you've been recognized for your Values and Vision Award. That was a surprise to you, wasn't it? If I remember good ol’ Colorado Springs.
00;16;53;05 - 00;16;57;18
Bill Diskin
It was. And you make it sound like it was a long time ago. It's only 2019.
00;16;57;18 - 00;17;06;13
Janice Crampton
I know, but you put in COVID and doesn't it just feel like an eternity? So thank you for for once again, level setting. You're right. It was 2019.
00;17;07;19 - 00;17;44;26
Bill Diskin
Well, I remember that because it coincided with a great vacation that I took with my family, coincidentally, to Colorado, where AISAP’s institute was. I am so appreciative of being sort of included among the people that have been honored with that award. And I appreciate AISAP for having the award and for promoting that within our industry, because it really is so critical for all of us to find ways to help each other and and collaborate and share what we know.
00;17;44;26 - 00;18;11;24
Bill Diskin
We all have sort of unique school settings, but a lot of overlap and similar situations that we have to deal with. And we can certainly help each other in lots of ways. And I think of two people that exemplify that for me. One, I was at Winchester Thurston School for 12 years in Pittsburgh. That's where I sort of started my career in teaching and that's where I eventually became the athletic director.
00;18;12;23 - 00;18;31;10
Bill Diskin
But in the admission office work that I did there, I had a mentor, a woman named Gaylen Westfall, who is now retired, but she's still living in Pittsburgh, still connected to Winchester Thurston and is now traveling the world, living her best life. But Gaylen was the ultimate mentor in terms of she saw me as somebody who was interested in the admission work.
00;18;32;05 - 00;18;51;16
Bill Diskin
I was passionate about working with students. And she gave me all of the information that she could. She passed on all of her her wisdom, her knowledge, her excitement, her passion. And she really made me realize this can be a career. This can be who I become as an educator.
00;18;51;27 - 00;19;11;09
Bill Diskin
And then coincidentally, and this is before AISAP, one of one of the people I met along the way was a man named Larry Jensen, who at the time was an admission director at a school nearby. And I was looking at options and maybe thought I'd go out there and work with Larry. He eventually talked me out of taking that job.
00;19;11;28 - 00;19;30;26
Bill Diskin
I'm not quite sure why. I am sure why, actually, but he was very wise, very kind and very generous, and he knew that this was not going to be the right fit. And so he steered me in the right direction. And from that day forward, he became so, you know, gosh, a mentor. I felt like a big brother.
00;19;31;06 - 00;19;51;20
Bill Diskin
And I think when I was at, gosh, I heard my name said spoken at the institute and I was to come up to win that award. I think the first thing I said was, gosh, I'm up here with Larry Jensen. I wanted to be Larry Jensen when I grew up. And I mean that's still the way I feel.
00;19;51;20 - 00;20;14;28
Bill Diskin
And, you know, we miss Larry greatly. But I still think about things when I have questions and I think, well, what would Larry say? What would Larry do? How would he help here? And so I think it's the spirit of Gaylen Westfall. And in the spirit that she offered me her support and her wisdom and and how Larry has and how others in the profession have.
00;20;15;06 - 00;20;35;28
Bill Diskin
I just feel like I've been so fortunate with the positions I've held. And in the schools where I've worked, I've had great mentorship from heads of schools and other division heads. It just feels like it's almost an obligation to find ways to pass that on. And it got a little bit tricky there for the I think the COVID years.
00;20;35;28 - 00;20;59;00
Bill Diskin
I feel like I had some momentum and I was in a good position when things got knocked off the rails a little bit. And so I'm so excited. We were just talking about La Jolla, California, next summer for the institute. I'm so excited to be coming and coming back. And, you know, whether it was flying on airplanes or just being around big crowds of people, it just wasn't real attractive there for a couple of years.
00;20;59;00 - 00;21;09;04
Bill Diskin
But now I feel like we're we're all back on track and I'm so excited to be engaged again in that part of our work. So I thank AISAP.
00;21;10;22 - 00;21;41;06
Janice Crampton
Oh, thank you. I mean, again, you know, as hokey as it sounds, but it is the truth, you know, by and for admission and enrollment professionals. Right. And so I think, again, at the core of what we do, there is that key element of belonging. Right. And that opportunity for us to see the connections that we have with not only the work that we do, but the world in which we find strength and the colleagues that we, in fact draw from.
00;21;41;06 - 00;22;11;26
Janice Crampton
So there's no doubt that in the spirit of not only this award, but in so much of what you've done as a connector, whether it's through social media or through your blogging or through your outreach or through your speaking or just, again, your advocacy of mentorship that that is not only evident, but it also clearly is part of who you are and your DNA, which is really quite exciting and once again, very palatable when you have the opportunity to chat.
00;22;11;26 - 00;22;12;09
Bill Diskin
Thank you.
00;22;12;26 - 00;22;37;22
Janice Crampton
Yeah. So here's a question for you. As we've spent a lot of time, dare I call it, on the warm, fuzzy stuff? I'd love to think that your professional life has been paved with only successes, but I recently read something that again was looking at juxtaposition of good feelings. That in order for you to appreciate the successes, you have to know the challenges.
00;22;38;11 - 00;23;00;12
Janice Crampton
Right. I think Wendy Mogul calls it blessings of a skinned knee. You know, Bill, did you have or can you speak to, let's say, an insurmountable challenge or at least at that moment it felt insurmountable? And what was it and how did you get through it? And do you sort of have a lesson along the way?
00;23;00;12 - 00;23;34;29
Bill Diskin
Yeah, gosh, it's an independent school experience. It isn't necessarily an admission office experience, and it comes back to I'm so glad you brought up my athletic directorship. I had the unfortunate situation to be an athletic director who, you know, we were hiring coaches. The beauty of this story is that our goal... The school had been an all girls school for hundreds of you know, since 1887.
00;23;35;10 - 00;24;00;25
Bill Diskin
And girls basketball had been a big piece of the culture. And girls basketball over time had sort of faded away. And as the athletic director, now that, you know, I knew I was only temporary, but the one thing I wanted to do was bring girls basketball back to the culture, because it was an important piece. And in the process of doing that, I was responsible for hiring a coach.
00;24;00;25 - 00;24;26;12
Bill Diskin
And she was, she is an amazing person and was an alum. She graduated from the school and one thing led to another. And pretty early on it became obvious that it wasn't a good fit. And so if you've ever had to fire somebody who has graduated from the school that they're working in, it felt like a failure.
00;24;26;12 - 00;25;12;05
Bill Diskin
It felt like it was insurmountable. It felt like it was going to linger forever. It felt like she had every reason to be, you know, forever upset with me. But two things I learned from that. And one, you know, I appreciate a previous AISAP WeAdmit! podcast had that Beth-Sarah Wright talking about dignity and, you know, “Know the mission, tell your story.” But where I landed with that whole situation was as painful as it was for me as the adult and the person who was having this interpersonal interaction.
00;25;12;23 - 00;25;42;02
Bill Diskin
It was the right thing for the students at the time, the student athletes and I tried to navigate that situation while keeping in mind the dignity of the person that we were letting go. I just, I wanted to honor her in that way. I hope that that was successful. That still sticks out as one of the hardest couple of days of my career.
00;25;42;08 - 00;25;55;22
Bill Diskin
And I tell you what, though, the other piece was the partnership I had with the upper school head at the time, who sat with me and worked through that with me because I was sort of on an island in the athletic department at that point. And I knew this had to be done for all the right reasons.
00;25;55;22 - 00;26;16;13
Bill Diskin
But I really felt like I was letting the school down. And this partnership along the way was crucial as well. So it reminded me that we're not alone. We need to count on each other and look to each other for support when things feel like they are as challenging as ever or as insurmountable as ever.
00;26;16;13 - 00;26;19;03
Bill Diskin
So that was not my brightest moment.
00;26;20;22 - 00;26;22;17
Janice Crampton
But the lesson learned.
00;26;22;17 - 00;26;46;13
Bill Diskin
Yeah, well, I think, gosh, it's beyond what we do in independent schools. If we can respect each other's dignity in all of the ways that we sort of don't agree or don't see eye to eye or have different values or beliefs, because we all grew up in completely different settings. But that doesn't mean we should ever lose sight of each other's dignity.
00;26;46;13 - 00;26;55;24
Bill Diskin
And if we can do that, I think we we can come a long way toward making things the best they can be in our communities.
00;26;56;20 - 00;27;26;16
Janice Crampton
And in so many ways, I would make the case that one of the reasons why I so enjoyed our conversation on the WeAdmit! podcast with Beth-Sara around dignity was because so often that word is either overused or I don't want to say underused because it's just not connected in sort of the fabric of a process or a piece of communication. Right?
00;27;27;28 - 00;27;46;11
Janice Crampton
And as you talked about this particular individual that you needed to “counsel out,” the reality of the situation was, again, hearing you explain it, is that you kept their dignity at the forefront. You kept their dignity at the forefront.
00;27;46;29 - 00;27;58;06
Bill Diskin
I certainly tried. That was what was going through my mind. And she had the best line of it all, though she said, “Are you firing me? I should be firing you.”
00;27;59;23 - 00;28;11;07
Janice Crampton
*Gasp* Oh, okay. Wow, there's a lot there, right? Well, because clearly she felt as though there were aspects and elements that were not supporting her towards success.
00;28;11;21 - 00;28;18;29
Bill Diskin
Yeah. Yeah. And it was a classic. It was sort of a classic interaction, I thought.
00;28;19;04 - 00;28;27;29
Janice Crampton
It might also be one of the reasons why you did not feel it was a good match, because, again, I'll just leave it at that. There was a lot there, right?
00;28;28;18 - 00;28;31;22
Bill Diskin
Yeah. And it propelled me out of athletics toward admission.
00;28;31;24 - 00;28;38;19
Janice Crampton
Yeah. There you go. There you go. It brought you to being a poet laureate. So again, right. There you go.
00;28;38;19 - 00;28;45;10
Bill Diskin
All over the place and she’s gone on to a great career herself, so yeah, yeah. You know, probably a blip now.
00;28;45;26 - 00;29;10;28
Janice Crampton
Yeah. It's funny that you're mentioning, you know what the individual's response was, right? I'll never forget and I do believe that I've mentioned it in this particular forum called WeAdmit! Podcast, but I'll never forget when I was sitting in the seat that you are sitting in, right, doing this work. And there were always these moments in times where you knew the offer, the deny letter.
00;29;10;29 - 00;29;26;27
Janice Crampton
First of all, I never have called it a rejection letter. It's been a denial letter. Which ,why do I think that makes such a big difference? I don't know. It just feels like a little softer and maybe more dignity. But anyway, where I'm going with this is remember the days when it wasn't hit “Send” on a computer.
00;29;26;27 - 00;29;51;03
Janice Crampton
You would literally mail a letter, a decision letter. Remember those days? Well, yes. And I would know that if it was, you know, the next day at 3 p.m., the letters in a particular zip code had landed. Right. You just could tell. And sure enough, the you know, the phone lines lit up. And and the woman that I worked with at the time came in and said, Janice, you know, Mrs. Smith is on line two.
00;29;51;03 - 00;30;13;14
Janice Crampton
And I look up Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Smith's son was a denier. And I was like, already, I was like, “Okay, this is going to be a hard one.” I got myself all set, right, had my folder. I was ready to go. I was postured to just respond with that, “Our committee said...” you know, right? The line, you know. “Good afternoon, Janice Crampton.”
00;30;13;14 - 00;30;44;02
Janice Crampton
And the woman started, you know, “Hi I am...” she said and I got your, we got your letter. And I said, “Okay.” You know, or something like that, right? Just nothing beyond just acknowledgment. She said, “I just am calling to tell you...” And I was all ready to go. Right? And she said, “I just called you to tell you that we received lots of other of letters in the mail and your deny letter was nicer and more thorough and more thoughtful than some of my accept letters.”
00;30;44;05 - 00;31;03;03
Janice Crampton
Well, there you go. Well, and I don't say that in a, “Share this so that, you know, we can have a pat on the back for Janice.” I'm saying in the context of communication and how you deliver matters. Right. And that is the dignity, piece. Dignity, people.
00;31;04;08 - 00;31;28;11
Bill Diskin
There's nothing more satisfying than knowing you've had a difficult conversation with a family, even though you know that you've done the right thing and they've left somewhat satisfied or that maybe it isn't always immediate, but soon they reach a point where they they get what you're doing. We have changed our letter to regret.
00;31;28;11 - 00;31;33;26
Janice Crampton
Oh, so no reject and no deny. But “We regret.”
00;31;35;11 - 00;31;44;01
Bill Diskin
The regret letter. “We regret,” because it's not forever either. It might be, it's just a slight regret right now.
00;31;45;07 - 00;31;51;26
Janice Crampton
I love that. See? There you go. Right. It's almost, again, like poet laureate, snapping of the fingers. *Snaps fingers*
00;31;52;18 - 00;31;59;01
Bill Diskin
Well, it felt like Deny was hard. That's what I inherited. And I thought, no, we’re not doing that, we’re going to regret.
00;31;59;05 - 00;32;02;04
Janice Crampton
How ‘bout “reject?” Like seriously who thought of that?
00;32;02;07 - 00;32;03;09
Bill Diskin
Yeah, no.
00;32;03;09 - 00;32;05;23
Janice Crampton
I mean we’re talking about three or four or five year old.
00;32;05;23 - 00;32;08;20
Bill Diskin
And then if they don't choose us, they've declined.
00;32;09;18 - 00;32;13;08
Janice Crampton
See, even on our end, we have it feel softer.
00;32;13;11 - 00;32;17;08
Bill Diskin
Well, yeah, we want to. We have to report to the board, right?
00;32;17;08 - 00;32;20;20
Janice Crampton
We have to report to the board where they may reject.
00;32;22;03 - 00;32;22;22
Bill Diskin
They may reject us.
00;32;22;22 - 00;32;43;10
Janice Crampton
I regret to tell you that your information makes no sense. So anyway, so Bill, again, that goal setting and belonging. School has started, brand new year. It's almost like the January 1st. What are your goals for the year?
00;32;43;10 - 00;32;43;23
Bill Diskin
Well.
00;32;45;21 - 00;32;48;14
Janice Crampton
Are you thinking, “Oh I have to make them up now,” or what?
00;32;48;24 - 00;33;17;09
Bill Diskin
No, no. It's so nice to actually have like regular goals again with families rather than, gosh, how are we going to navigate this without being able to meet and see people on campus? So I our goal in September continues to be to help all of our new families. We have 170 new students, so 140 some new families, continue to help them feel like they are engaging properly.
00;33;17;09 - 00;33;38;19
Bill Diskin
And frankly, one of our hashtags that we use all the time is #YouBelongHere. And so belonging is a huge part. And we don't want to settle for just, you know, “You'll find a way to fit in.” We want it to be #YouBelongHere and find ways to help every every student find their place.
00;33;40;04 - 00;34;09;20
Bill Diskin
So I think part of our goals right now are making sure that our parent ambassadors and our new Family Connections committees are continuing to help our newest students and parents engage with our community. We have some events coming up along those lines. And then we have, you know, in the name of sort of continuous improvement, we have ventured into adding two new software solutions to our admission and financial aid operation.
00;34;10;00 - 00;34;29;01
Bill Diskin
So we are literally doing the work to make sure that those are up and running. We sort of kick off the new admissions season, September 1st. And so everything's in place, but we're still tweaking the product that we're using to process all of the incoming inquiry and application data, and we're really excited about how that's going to help us.
00;34;29;10 - 00;34;54;26
Bill Diskin
It's already improved the way we can build relationships with the families, the prospective families that we're interacting with. And then you've probably heard this one, but a lot of people, there’s a big set of schools that have moved to a new product for how we're going to process financial aid and so excited about that product. And so, but just the behind the scenes work to get that all set up.
00;34;54;26 - 00;35;16;15
Bill Diskin
So we have three people in my office, in addition to myself, we are all sort of focused on getting that in shape so that when the financial aid season comes about, we will be in good shape. It's a big step to move our families from what they've been doing for 20 years to a new product. But it is going to be worth it.
00;35;16;15 - 00;35;32;09
Bill Diskin
But I felt like we we even though it could have been comfortable to stay where we were, it was important as a customer service move to make these moves. So those are those are some of the goals sort of directly in our office. And then we have...
00;35;32;16 - 00;36;00;08
Janice Crampton
How about you as a person? Because again, with thinking about managers in an office, right? So you have commented that you have two or three people that are in your office and you spoke of your most unfortunate situation as a manager, as an athletic director. But how have you learned again about some of those transitions from manager in the admission office to the tactical and practical?
00;36;00;08 - 00;36;06;21
Janice Crampton
And again, I'm weaving this together by way of, you know, just sort of your personal professional goals.
00;36;07;25 - 00;36;26;18
Bill Diskin
Yeah. And I think I told you, I've been listening to this podcast over the months. And I think back to Kristin and Susan who you had on last April. Sort of they hit on it, too. You know, I had a marketing degree in my undergrad and then I went and got a masters in teaching English.
00;36;27;01 - 00;36;31;27
Bill Diskin
None of that prepares you for managing a team in an office, really.
00;36;31;27 - 00;36;48;26
Janice Crampton
But maybe fishing because you cast the net, right? You just have to sit there and wait. You gotta tug a little and sometimes you end up with a shoe and sometimes you end up with a 12 foot trout or 12 foot. Listen to me.
00;36;49;12 - 00;36;51;21
Bill Diskin
In your dreams, you wind up with a 12-foot trout.
00;36;51;22 - 00;36;55;23
Janice Crampton
I know. I was just going to say, “12 foot, Janice?”
00;36;55;23 - 00;37;11;05
Bill Diskin
Also in college, one thing I did was I worked as an editor of the student newspaper, and I saw hierarchy sort of in action there in terms of management and and learned a lot from the people that were in in those positions then didn't know that it would come back to be something I would tap into.
00;37;11;05 - 00;37;35;06
Bill Diskin
And I'm fortunate, incredibly fortunate that the four people that work in our office right now, we have been together several years. We have lots of experience, two of us have been together for all 16 of my years. The other two are both from Pennsylvania. And so we have this sort of hometown connection kind of thing that has really worked out well for us.
00;37;36;21 - 00;37;52;19
Bill Diskin
And gosh, just the wealth of experience that my team has right now. Like I said, I've been off campus for a couple of weeks and they haven't skipped a beat. In fact, I start to worry that maybe they're a little more efficient when I'm not there.
00;37;52;19 - 00;38;04;03
Janice Crampton
Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I always wonder when I come back from an AISAP trip and I will comment, you know, “So how are things going?” And they’re like, “The best week ever!”
00;38;05;24 - 00;38;32;27
Bill Diskin
But I will tell you that the difference between managing a team before COVID and going out and working from home in Zoom Land and managing the team after COVID is to me two really different things. There's a lot of art there that I've had to learn that the expectations, the reality and the feel of it all is quite different.
00;38;32;27 - 00;38;52;02
Bill Diskin
And I feel like I'm fortunate that we've managed it well and we get it and we know where we have to be when we have to be there. But if it's not 100% be in the office, 11 hours a day anymore. It's do what you have to do. You can do a lot of it from home.
00;38;52;08 - 00;39;12;21
Bill Diskin
But when we need to be face to face with families, we're going to be face to face with families or with colleagues or in our team meetings. But even our team meetings can be via Zoom at this point. So it has changed the way, the expectation for sort of numbers of hours in your office chair.
00;39;13;05 - 00;39;23;04
Bill Diskin
And in a way, it has made us all better employees and more productive, even though as old school managers sometimes I'm scratching my head like, “Where is everybody?”
00;39;23;23 - 00;39;44;08
Janice Crampton
That's right. That's right. That's right. Well, and in the spirit of old school managers, what would you tell your 22 year old self your first year in admission and enrollment? What would you say to that person to either, “You must do like learn from me because I didn't,” or would you say, “Come on, I thought this was critically important and give it up.”
00;39;44;20 - 00;39;50;23
Janice Crampton
You know that that wise sage from the Sage.
00;39;50;23 - 00;40;15;21
Bill Diskin
Well, you know, part of what I think I've learned along the way, both in working and in life, is just an appreciation that everything is temporary and that's the good and the bad. And so when things are going really well, that's great, but it's temporary. And when things are really hard, that's hard, but it's temporary.
00;40;15;22 - 00;40;47;24
Bill Diskin
And in the things that I used to get so worked up about and so stressed out about, they go away or they they morph into something that's okay. Like, so I think more than anything else, that's probably one of the things I would I would say yeah. And, and then somewhere wrapped in there is and I think I got this from... I think of the like the librarian at my grade school when I was a kid.
00;40;47;24 - 00;41;08;29
Bill Diskin
I love books, I love the library and that was like a safe place for me. I would go there and just spend hours looking at books and talking with her and and she was just always so interested in learning what I was doing, what I was interested in and what I was passionate about, where I came from, who my friends were.
00;41;09;10 - 00;41;51;00
Bill Diskin
And I think that probably more than anything else that has been a tool that I've relied on in my work in admissions. That the families come into our office and they're either, they might be comfortable, but they might be scared, they might be intimidated, might be their first time in an independent school. They're in a situation where probably something's a little bit out of whack in their family because they're out looking at new schools for their kids. Getting them comfortable and helping them get comfortable by making it not about me and about them, to me is the biggest piece that has impacted my work in admissions.
00;41;51;16 - 00;42;24;13
Bill Diskin
And by building that relationship, you are then able to cross through difficult times together because guess what, not everything that happens in the admissions office is pleasant and we may end up having to have a really hard conversation when the final decisions are in. And I want to be able to do that, having some notion of who the people are and what inspires them or what motivates them, why they're here, and just being able to again, it comes back to respecting their dignity and respecting who they are as people.
00;42;25;03 - 00;42;43;15
Bill Diskin
So I think if I was to talk to myself when I was 22 saying, “What are you doing here?” Just listen to others and be receptive to information about who they are rather than doing all the talking.
00;42;45;29 - 00;43;21;27
Janice Crampton
Delightful. Absolutely delightful. And as we draw our time to a close again, I will most likely be one of those people that downloads this episode because I know that I will be stronger and calmer through authenticity and dignity and vision and values. Thank you, Bill Diskin. It's truly a pleasure to have you in the circle of conversation and also to know that you are sitting at that desk day in and day out -
00;43;21;27 - 00;43;31;12
Janice Crampton
I didn't say in your office it could be Zoom - but making a dent in the universe and you truly are. Thank you so, so much for your time.
00;43;31;17 - 00;43;45;05
Bill Diskin
Well, thank you, Janice. And thank you to you and everybody at AISAP for all the things you do to support our work. I mean, we couldn't do this without the information and the inspiration that you make available to us. So thank you.
00;43;46;00 - 00;44;02;24
Janice Crampton
Thank you. All righty. We hope you enjoyed this episode of WeAdmit! To learn more about the Association of Independent School Admission Professionals and how you can take advantage of membership benefits, visit aisap.org. That's AISAP.org